It was the moment that changed her life, on the day that forever changed the life of the small northern community of La Loche.

“Everyone was gone and it was just him and me and I was staring down the barrel of his gun,” Longobardi said in a phone interview from her home in Nova Scotia.

Six shotgun pellets hit her. Thankfully, six others missed.

Longobardi said she no longer wants to remember the vivid, horrific details of that day. Now that the young man accused in the shooting has pleaded guilty, she may not have to.

The 18-year-old, who was still 17 at the time of the shootings, pleaded guilty in a Meadow Lake courtroom on Friday to second-degree murder in the deaths of two teen brothers and first-degree murder in the deaths of a teacher’s aide and a teacher. He also pleaded guilty to seven counts of attempted murder for shooting seven other people, including Longobardi.

Now that the shooter, whose identity is protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, has taken this step, Longobardi said she is feeling some relief for the first time in months.

“He stood at the door and looked at me,” she said in an interview from her new home in Saskatoon.

“I really think he totally knew what he was doing.”

Klyne was blinded by the shooting and was forced to leave her job. She also had to give up her hobbies, amateur photography and knitting.

Both women moved away from La Loche after the shooting and say it’s unlikely they will ever return. Others have to live there and are reminded daily of what happened.

“Every day. Every day,” said Norman Fontaine, whose two grandchildren, Drayden Fontaine, 13, and Dayne Fontaine, 17, were shot dead at his house moments before the accused went to the school to continue the carnage.

Fontaine said his two grandchildren were his best friends. He can’t speak about them without agony.

“It’s pretty hard. Pretty hard,” he said from his home in La Loche. “Two are gone. We can’t help it.”

The boys’ mother is back at work now, and the entire community is doing its best to move forward, he said.

Many family members and supporters packed a La Loche courtroom Friday to watch a live stream video feed of the shooter’s court appearance in Meadow Lake.

Standing in street clothes in the prisoner’s box, he fidgeted through much of the proceedings. His defence lawyer, Aaron Fox, argued against an adult sentence, saying “moral culpability” is especially important when dealing with youth in the justice system.

The judge ordered a psychiatric report for the young man, who is due back in court on Jan. 31 and again in May and June for hearings to determine if he will be sentenced as an adult. Those hearings are expected to take place in La Loche.

Around lunchtime on Jan. 22, the shooter gunned down the Fontaine brothers, who were said to be popular and into hunting and riding ATVs — at their home.

While making his way to the high school, he texted a group of friends.

In the nine months since the shooting, there have been some signs of recovery in the community. Last month, it celebrated the opening of a new Friendship Centre, which provides help with housing, employment and youth intervention.

“We’re starting to see things come to fruition. … We’re trying to make as much impact as we can with the resources we have,” said Leonard Montgrand, the centre’s executive director. Still, barriers remain, particularly in unemployment, he said.

This summer, Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall announced support for new adult education programs, training in auto mechanics and other trades, and affordable rental housing. La Loche also got a community mental health nurse and a suicide prevention and community wellness worker, Wall said.

However, local resident Jacene Piche said Friday that more programs are still needed for young people. Right now, there are recreational sports programs, but not much for young people who are more interested in the arts.

“You see kids saying on Facebook, ‘it’s so boring, nothing to do.’ If you don’t give them choices, they won’t go looking for it themselves,” he said.

— with National Post files from Doug Quan and StarPhoenix files from Dave Deibert

Shortly before 1 p.m. on the Friday afternoon of Jan. 22, the 17-year-old shooter, in an online chat with friends, said, “Just killed 2 ppl. Bout to shoot ip the school.”

Moments later, he entered La Loche Community School and started firing. Some students fled outside. Others hid in classrooms or other rooms. Some students and teachers guided others to safety. La Loche RCMP was overwhelmed with reports of a shooter on the loose.

Around 1:08 p.m., RCMP officers arrived on the scene to find the school’s main doors blasted with holes. One officer spotted a boy with a gun and chased him through the building. At 1:15 p.m., the shooter surrendered and was taken into custody.

“To have the lives and the futures of these students and staff cut short by this unspeakably horrible event is really, simply unimaginable,” Premier Brad Wall said in a statement that day.

The grandfather of the two boys killed in the home said in the immediate aftermath that he couldn’t believe his “two babies” were dead.

Meadow Lake provincial court

“They were my best friends,” Norman Fontaine said of the boys. “Never again, I guess.”

Alicia Fontaine, the mother of both boys, took to Facebook to express some of her grief. “My heart shattered into a million pieces,” she wrote. “So sad I don’t have no more babies.”

Janvier was described as kind and patient with the children at the school, and someone whose life was just getting started. Cousin Sandie Janvier said “her smile will light up the room on the darkest day. We lost a loving sister today.”

Wood had just started teaching in September, having previously worked with youth at an urban farm in Thunder Bay, Ont.

“We find ourselves in moments of despair thinking, ‘Why did it have to be Adam?’ But really, the question is, ‘Why did this have to happen?’” his loved ones said in a statement soon after the shooting.

In the days and weeks after the shooting, people searched for answers.

Some people in the community — multiple relatives, friends and classmates — said the shooter had been bullied relentlessly. The shooter was a large, very sensitive and quiet teen, according to Perry Herman, who knew the teen’s family, and other La Loche residents. He was taunted frequently, especially about his large ears. The teen had few places to turn for help in the community of around 1,000 residents, which has few services for mental health, addictions or other social problems.

Four people were killed on Jan. 22, 2016 in a shooting in the northern Saskatchewan community of La LocheLiam Richards /
Saskatoon StarPhoenix

According to three sources inside the building at the time of the killings, the teen dared people to tease him about his ears. He passed over more than one student who had treated him with kindness.

“Oh no, not you bro,” he apparently said before moving on.

“He was a normal boy. He was not a monster. He was hurting,” Herman said in the hours after the shooting.

Defence lawyer Ian Mokuruk, following the shooter’s first court appearance the following week, said it was “a very tragic situation.” To call the entire affair a tragedy,” he added, “doesn’t do the incident justice.”

Moments of silence were observed in classrooms across Saskatchewan and the House of Commons in Ottawa. The shooting transcended news: a moment of silence took place in the Air Canada Centre before a Toronto Maple Leafs-Montreal Canadiens hockey game, and Canadian tennis star Milos Raonic shared prayers for the community in a courtside interview following an early-round match at the Australian Open.

In addition to Canadian news outlets, CNN, BBC, The New York Times, the major U.S. networks and dozens of other news agencies around the globe reported on the town 600 kilometres north of Saskatoon, at the end of Highway 155 in Canada’s boreal forest.

“The country’s heart is breaking for the people of La Loche, Saskatchewan,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said hours after the shooting, before flying into the community days later. “It is both heartbreaking and devastating when lives so full of promise are taken from us too soon.”

This Week's Flyers

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.